I had used Anderson Power pole connectors for several years and while impressed with the robust little 15,30,45 Amp connectors I have not been happy with the work and CARE needed to solder the connector to the wire.They have 'universal ,color coded bodies that the metal contact can snap into and a small pointy tool can remove the metal from the body ,if needed. The plastic bodies have smart retainer grooves and slide together to form a complete ,polarized ,connector and the body is the same for 15,30,45 Amps,just the metal contact differs.

As I mentioned,the work of carefully soldering wires to contacts was a chore,the I paid for the TC-1 CRIMPER that is made for the power poles...WOW,even in my poorly coordinated hands the job is EASY AND SECURE.

They sell roll pins to lock the RED-BLACK halves together ,but they stay together well without and a toothpick piece or bit of weed wacker line will do the job and a connected line can be secured with a small wire or zip tie if 'PULL' is likely though the pairs and halves appear to give a positive,LOW RESISTANCE contact withous assistance.

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There's a little learning curve, but after doing a few pairs you get the hang of which way the clips need to go into the plastic housings, and which side should be red, so that it matches up with RIGrunners and other ham stuff. Check the orientation several times before crimping at first, especially when using zip cord, where the two conductors are joined together, because if the two clips get crimped with more than about 30 degrees of twist between the two it may not be possible to seat them both in the housing. Been there, done that, that's how you learn.

My method is to hold the pair of wires side by side with the stripped ends pointing away from me in my left hand, with the red wire to the right of the black. Starting with the red, insert the stripped wire into the barrel of connector making sure to keep the blade flat, with the distal end of the curve pointing down. Maintaining that orientation, slip the connector into the appropriate third of the crimp die and gently squeeze.

The 30s are the easiest because they have a complete barrel that isn't as finicky to keep aligned, plus the optimal gauge wire for this size is stiff enough that it slides right into the housing and have enough insulation to provide adequate strain relief for the connectors. The 15s and 45s are necessary for the thick and thin stuff, but often require extra care to install.

Because 1 jpeg > >1k words, here's a visual to go with the description of my routine for orienting all the components for crimping.

Just remember "Red on the Right" from beginning to end and the pairs come out perfectly ARES/RACES compatible on both ends of your cable. Slide the plastic housings together before you start so that the red one is on the right when the "A" is right-side up when looking at the end. You can undo them later if you have to, but having them properly oriented during the prep and layout process is extremely helpful for maintaining proper orientation. Keep the zipcord flat, the contact blades flat and claws down, avoid twisting the components out of plane during crimping, and they'll pop into the plastic housings perfectly. I like to strip the wires just enough to fit in the length of the barrel, with the insulation butting right up to the end, or sometimes on the really thin stuff even a millimeter inside the barrel. This provides much better strain relief and increased stiffness for insertion into the housings than if there is exposed wire that can bend like a wet noodle. Sometimes you'll have to figure out some tiny tool combination for manipulating those little buggers if you're stuck using flimsy wires. Beefing them up with shrink tubing can be helpful, too.

Most people, myself included, were a little underwhelmed about this idea - that is until they start using them.

Taking Alan's advice of "PowerPole the World", if you crimp onto wires other than the nice thick 12awg zip cord, sometimes the crimp does not take as well.I've run into this when improvising connectors similar to these:

My work around is to "tin" the bare wires with some solder before crimping. This thickens them up.Again, with quality 12awg wires this is not an issue, but if you want to run some random 12vdc appliance that has thinner power wires, it's difficult to make solid crimp that won't fly off after some abuse.

My work around is to "tin" the bare wires with some solder before crimping. This thickens them up.Again, with quality 12awg wires this is not an issue, but if you want to run some random 12vdc appliance that has thinner power wires, it's difficult to make solid crimp that won't fly off after some abuse.

If I'm stuck using 18awg with the 15s I'll strip the wire long and fold it back on itself to double or triple the amount of wire in the barrel when crimping. Shrinking some adhesive tubing over the insulation and 2mm of the conductor helps provide enough stiffness to insert into the housing, but even then I usually have to use some tool to get it past the spring. I've actually done 20awg when making cords from USB cables and that was a freaking nightmare. I'd love to find a commercial cord like that.

Carl, thanks for posting this. I bought the exact same crimper last week, then had second thoughts when it arrived in its flimsy plastic/cardboard package. I WAS going to send it back but since I don't crimp that much, it will likely work out.

Everyone needs to be aware, powerpoles are usually used in the HAM world for 12VDC lines (actually 13.8VDC but . . . .). It is tempting but not advised to use them for higher/lower voltages due to the confusion and risk of fire or danger, nor for AC for the same reasons. If you do use them for other voltages, use colors other than red/black which is the standard for HAM use.

The rule is right-red-up. This means when you look at the poles from the non-wire end, the red connector should be on the right, and the small triangle/arrowhead on the red connector should be on top ("up").

Everyone needs to be aware, powerpoles are usually used in the HAM world for 12VDC lines (actually 13.8VDC but . . . .). It is tempting but not advised to use them for higher/lower voltages due to the confusion and risk of fire or danger, nor for AC for the same reasons. If you do use them for other voltages, use colors other than red/black which is the standard for HAM use.

That's a good rule of thumb, except for when you've got one of these.....

....and you've got make one of these.....

I put a conspicuous label on the connectors that aren't compatible with ARES/RACES 12V DC stuff. It's not 100% fool proof, though.

Speak of the devil, as I'm heading out of town and we've had severe weather, I was showing my wife some of our power preps. While I was reviewing our batteries and inverters I found an LED light strip that I had terminated with powerpoles.

Similar to this.

Anyhow I plugged it into one of my 12vdc SLA batteries to show how much light it produces. Within seconds there were open flames. The light strip wire insulation melted and the weight of the light stretched out copper wire over 18 inches. All I could do was grab at each set of powerpoles and disconnect. After the smoke cleared I went to inspect the led. Turns out the POS and neg insulation had melted the full length of the cord and the copper started to weld itself together. A gentle shake severed the cord from the light fixture.

I peeled back the heatshrink to see if my connections shorted. They seemed ok.

With radios I always run fuses. I guess I need to start using them for all the little things too. Maybe a rig runner is in my future...

While I know what a POS is,the NEG is new to me. The POS shorted and a NEGative reaction took place?

This is why we FUSE EVERYTHING as even a small battery can discharge catastrophic levels of current.I would guess that the LED strip failed and wires got hot and melted the rubber (not SILICONE used for high temps) insulation.I have also seen this with undersized 10 and 12 gauge ,red/black wire sold as speaker wire and is COPPER PLATED ALUMINUM....ALWAYS OVER-SIZE your wire for DC circuits.

Personal note: I hope you chose to fuse your inverter....

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I refuse to punch back as I didn't come here to fight.

Stop complaining about life and start Celebrating it .

I've reached the age where there is little left to learn the hard way.

If you had only one year,one month,or one day...Would you live your life differently?

I tried the 'TIN the wire with solder' mentioned above and find that it makes life easier as the wire is thickened and fits the crimp connector better after crimping.Also the wire is more rugged and less likely to break strands and it is stiffer when pushing the metal contact into the plastic body. An all around winner!

Logged

I refuse to punch back as I didn't come here to fight.

Stop complaining about life and start Celebrating it .

I've reached the age where there is little left to learn the hard way.

If you had only one year,one month,or one day...Would you live your life differently?

I tried the 'TIN the wire with solder' mentioned above and find that it makes life easier as the wire is thickened and fits the crimp connector better after crimping.Also the wire is more rugged and less likely to break strands and it is stiffer when pushing the metal contact into the plastic body. An all around winner!

That's what I do as well. Also, if the wire insulation is very thin, it will bend when you insert the crimped contact into the plastic housing. I've found hold the wire lengthwise with small needle nose pliers can help "push" things into place.